STRATTON AIR NATIONAL GUARD BASE --An LC-130 "Skibird" with the New York Air National Guard's 109th Airlift Wing departs for McMurdo Station, Antarctica, from Stratton Air National Guard Base in Scotia, N.Y. on Oct. 18, 2016. This is the 29th season that the unit will participate in Operation Deep Freeze, the military component of the U.S. Antarctic Program, which is managed by the National Science Foundation.